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T O P I C R E V I E W

David Bryant

The North West Astronomy Festival on 26-27 October, 2013 is a brand new event, with lots of talks, dealers, entertainment, etc. at the Heath Business & Technical Park Events Hall and Lecture Theatre, Runcorn Cheshire.

We'll be there with signed books, flown hardware and a full range of meteorites, including Chelyabinsk!

rgarner

The Space Collective will also be present with a stall.

I should add that the proceeds go towards supporting The Knowledge Observatory Astronomy programme for young people disengaged from education, training and employment.

Blackarrow

Is it too early to start asking whether anyone interested in astronomy in the UK is thinking about the total eclipse on 20th March, 2015?

A flight from Belfast to the Faroe Islands is about half the distance from Belfast to Nice or Verona. A flight from Glasgow to the Faroes would be about the same. Liverpool would be longer, but still do-able. One flight could link two or more airports to maximize numbers.

No accommodation charges would be required: it could all be done in well under a day. Ideally (in clear conditions) the flight would land and the eclipse would be viewed from somewhere near the airport. If cloudy, the flight would provide a viewing opportunity above the clouds (and the aircraft could possibly follow the track of totality to extend the time of totality).

A "bare-bones" eclipse trip like this might not appeal to the real enthusiasts since it might be difficult to take serious equipment, but it could provide a relatively cheap and easy way for people to observe a total eclipse, and fromn personal experience the best tools for that are the human eye and the memory.

Anyone interested?

canyon42

Can't speak for those in the U.K., but as far as "too early" goes I've personally had the eclipses of 2017 and 2024 down on my mental calendar for several decades now.